Unsere Welt keint keinen Zufall... [mod.]

[Crim]

"Ja, ja... Ich bin gut, Vati, und Sie? Gut, gut... Na, brauche ich gehen... Ich liebe dich, Vati! Tschüss! Wiederhören!" The Slowpoke Morph turned off the phone, feeling warmer and happier than she had in days, even though it was late, and she was a bit sleepy. Her mother and father had been more than happy to hear from her, they had been ecstatic, and her father had been just as happy as she had anticipated when she had informed him about the Lapras she had gotten. Sure, she'd been a bit... vague about what exactly he was like when asked (She'd paused for a few moments, before replying, "Na... Er ist leise, aber nett", which basically said that the Lapras was quiet, but nice. He was quiet, she just wasn't sure how nice he was yet.)

The Lapras in question had been released as soon as Frie had traveled onto the bridge, and he was now drifting along in the chilly water almost lazily, keeping pace with the girl's slow shuffle along the bridge itself. He had watched her with mild, unobservable curiosity as she had spoken to her family, though of course he hadn't been able to understand a word of the strange, foreign language which had come from the girl's mouth. He found it rather strange that humans seemed to have such a variety of their own languages, for it no doubt made it very hard to understand each other. Despite this realization, however, the Lapras felt little. He hadn't expressed much since they'd left the Lab, even if he did feel some twinges of curiosity towards the Slowpoke girl who had chosen /him/ for some reason, rather than the other two, more exciting Lapras she had been offered.

Frie glanced over at her new companion, who had not yet been given a name. With a smile, she walked a bit closer to the edge of the bridge, glancing down at the starter and speaking quietly. The near silence around the area, especially at night, was enough to allow the Lapras to hear her, but just barely. "Hello again. It's even more beautiful out here than I'd thought at night, wouldn't you agree?"

The Lapras merely stared back at her, before giving a noncommittal grunt and continuing to swim forwards. He thought that she was a rather odd human, dwelling on the idea of the world and its beauty rather than what he'd been told most trainers wanted to dwell on: fighting and growing stronger. He didn't understand her reasoning for this deviation from normal human interest, and he didn't feel like he cared enough to ask, either.

"I'm Cara, though everyone calls me Frie, after my middle name, Friede-- it means peace in my native language, you know." the girl continued, and the Lapras nodded just slightly, finding it a rather curious middle name. It seemed to suit the girl, of course; the Lapras thought that she was the sort who was at peace with the world. Perhaps her parents had given her the name purposefully.

"And... I don't think you have a name, yet, right?" the Lapras nodded just slightly once more. "Well... I was thinking of a few possible names... What do you think of the name Meer? It means 'sea' in my language, and that's rather fitting, isn't it?" the girl was obviously waiting for a response, and the Lapras paused in his swimming for a moment before muttering a few words, the most Frie had heard out of him yet.

+... S'alright, I guess.+ he grunted, gaze flickering briefly to her before he continued forwards. Really, he liked the odd-sounding name, liked how it sounded on the tongue, though he wasn't going to waste his breath saying such a petty thing. The Lapras listened idly as Frie continued.

"Well, I'm glad. Now... We're probably going to have to battle sometime soon, but... that's only if you want to battle, alright? I'm not going to force someone who's unwilling to fight for me. I'm not cruel." the Morph considered continuing, though she figured she'd explain more when the two of them were a bit less tired. "I think we should rest for a few hours before we really begin getting started, though."

Meer felt no objections, and he would have shrugged had he had shoulders. The Slowpoke Morph found a nice place near the beginning of the bridge to rest, and, after ensuring that Meer was comfortable, the girl relaxed. Within minutes, she was asleep.

-----

A few hours passed, and Frie awoke shortly before sunrise, the sky already beginning to turn into beautiful shades. Meer was already awake, having slept for quite a while the previous night anyways. The Lapras's gaze was fixed on the sky, and he didn't notice that Frie had awakened until she addressed him. "Ready to go?"

The Lapras nodded, and without further discussion the girl and her rather bored companion continued along, one in the water, one on the land, pondering what sort of creatures might appear in the early-morning hours, and whether they would become additional members of the team or not. At this point, anything was possible, and Frie wasn't going to rule any Pokémon out, as long as they were reasonable individuals.

[Seas]

Blue had always been the most curious out of her siblings. Whiskers was the cleverest and Salt the bravest, but she was the one who constantly wanted to see new places, learn new things, to go beyond. Needless to say, their parents weren't happy that Blue had somehow ended up the ringleader of the siblings.

It didn't take her more than a moment to decide to investigate the Lapras she saw in the distance. Lapras were rare and she had never talked to one, but she wanted to. Of course, Salt and Whiskers followed her, gliding through the water like the glints of the sun's first rays of light.

The sight of the trainer didn't make her pause at all; the warnings her parents had repeated flew out of her mind as if they had wings.

A sharp nip to her ear made her stop to turn around, annoyed, to face her brother.

"We've always been told that trainers are bad, Blue," Whiskers said, a serious look on his normally expressive face, "There's probably a reason for that."

"It's 'cause they're scared," Blue replied, reaching up with one paw to run her smarting ear, "We've got Salt, we'll be fine. And anyway, don't you want to know why we're not supposed to talk to them? What could they do? It's easy to escape in the water."

"She could send the Lapras after us," Whiskers said, "It's probably her Pokémon."

"So?" she asked, feeling the excitement of newness prickle over her fur, "We're more agile. We'd be fine. Come on, come on, don't you want to see? Salt, don't you want to see?"

Salt looked over from where she was doing easy flips in the water and tilted her head. she looked gentle and peaceful. Blue had no idea how her most violent sibling was so kind and quietly playful.

"I would," she replied softly.

"Alright, settled," Blue said gleefully, "You're outvoted Whiskers. Let's go."

The Buizel, for that's what they were, swam towards Meer and then ducked in and out and around his body, flitting about in blurs of movement and then floating for a few moments. Blue used these moments to poke her head into the air to catch a glimpse of the trainer. The Buizel thought the colouring she had was odd, like a Pok?mon's, and was eager to find out why.

"Hi," she called out, though exactly to who was unclear, "I'm Blue, the adventurer. My brother is Whiskers, the cleverest Buizel ever and my sister is Salt. She isn't afraid of anything. Who're you?"

[Crim]

Both Frie and Meer did not even notice the Buizel at first. Frie's eyes were too bad to see the trio of otters at a far distance anyways, even with her glasses, and she was too busy watching the skies and the bridge for any signs of life to take note of the figures in the distance. There was a small flock of Pidgey flying in the skies, too far away for Frie to beckon to or greet. She watched them without regretting this fact; they were, after all, wild creatures, and it was no surprise to her that such creatures weren't exactly dying to greet a human. Many humans only sought to battle and capture Pok?mon as well, so, she couldn't exactly blame them. Frie, however, sought more to understand the Pok?mon as an individual soul. She wouldn't force battling, though she knew that was what made certain Pok?mon happy. The woman would never force a peaceful Pok?mon into battle, and that made her a far better person than many of the trainers she had learned about.

Meer had been content to simply float along beside Frie in the water, focusing on nothing but the water beneath his flippers. It was cold, but it bothered Meer in no way, as the creature was an Ice-type as well as a Water-type. In fact, he enjoyed it more than he enjoyed normal water, which one one of the few things he actually admitted to enjoying. There was nothing to hate about water, after all, even if it tended to be boring. Then again, to Meer, everything was boring.

Everything, that is, except the three orange shapes which began to swim around the large sea creature. Meer paused in his swimming, staring down at the fast moving mammals with some confusion and scowling. Frie glanced back, noting her parent's disturbance, and headed back towards the Lapras and his three new companions, gazing down curiously and adjusting her glasses. The three creatures moved quite fast, but then they paused, and Frie recognized the creatures as Buizel. One of them, a female, called out a greeting to her, introducing herself and her littermates.

The Buizel talking, Blue, certainly seemed like a spunky little creature, with little humility, though Frie wasn't annoyed by that fact in the slightest. In fact, she smiled and giggled as the orange creature introduced her brother, Whiskers, who was apparently rather intelligent, and her sister, Salt, who was apparently the bravest of the three. Meer seemed less than impressed, his look shifting back to one of boredom very quickly. Frie, however, dipped her head to the Buizel, before speaking in her slow and easy tone, issuing a greeting.

"Curiosity, wit, and courage, hm? Well, it's very nice to meet all three of you. I'm Cara Friede Brandt, though I go by simply Frie. It's short for the word that means peace in my native language. And I'm a simple Slowpoke Morph, who's only just started her Pok?mon journey... What are you all doing out here? I can't blame you, of course, it's a rather nice place, but is your home nearby?"

The girl sat down on the edge of the bridge, her feet dangling off but stopping far short of the water's edge. She peered down with her large, tired-yet-curious eyes, interested in the otter's response.

[Seas]

Blue did a quick back flip in excitement as the trainer started talking, missing the very first part of what the trainer had said. Her blue eyes sparkled in excitement and the thrill of being proved right as Frie talked. The only thing that threw the little Buizel off was the question about her and her siblings. She couldn't understand that; why would anyone want to know about her and her family? They weren't interesting, that's why she was looking for interesting things.

While she was thinking about that, Whiskers swam over to her, a little awkwardly as he always was in the water.

"Don't answer her," Whiskers hissed, "That's dangerous. She could track us or something."

Blue knew what he was talking about. It might not have been a danger if it was just their family, but they lived with other Pok?mon, all in caves carved by the water, all connected. Some of the Pokémon were even said to be rare; Blue didn't know what that meant, but she was glad she wasn't because then she wouldn't be able to sneak off as easily given how closely they watched the rare pup-lings.

Blue didn't plan on letting that stop her from talking to the trainer though. If she went after their home, they'd just have to stop her. She was sure that her and her siblings could do anything.

She slid closer to the trainer, ignoring her brother's groan, and poked her head up near Frie's shoe, almost but not quite touching it.

"We're looking for interesting things," Blue told her, which was true. "Like you. And home's further away than we've ever been before...."

Blue trailed off as she realized she actually wasn't sure where home was. They had escaped, and gone swimming by the rocks, and then they had found a current and followed that, and then then had found a new current and followed that....Blue wasn't even really sure which way home was.

"Excuse me for a moment please," she said to the trainer, hoping she wouldn't leave.

She swam quickly over to Whiskers, who was watching them all with his blank look that meant he wasn't happy, and nudged him.

"What?"

"Do you maybe remember how we got here and how to get back?" Blue asked carefully.

"No, I - wait, what? Are you saying we're lost?" Whiskers said, almost growling.

"Well, I don't know where to go and Salt never does, and you don't, so probably," Blue replied quickly, "But you're the clever one, you figure out how to go home. I'll just go talk to the trainer, okay? Maybe she'll have information or something."

Blue escaped before he could say anything more, noting Salt still lazily circling the Lapras as she fled back to where the trainer was waiting.

"Hi again," she said cheerfully, "Sorry about that. Do you know this place very well, Frie? What's a morph? Is that why you look like a Pokémon? Where are you going? What are you doing?"

[Crim]

Frie tilted her head to one side, watching Blue with her curious-yet-tired gaze. These little Pok?mon were really quite cute, and friendly, too. She was glad that her first experience with wild Pok?mon in the region hadn't been with a Pok?mon that was simply raring to fix. This was just so much /nicer/ and more /relaxing/ and... Frie loved it. She had never exactly been the sort to rare for fights, obviously, so a nice little conversation was much more preferable.

The Buizel trio seemed unwilling to tell Frie where they were from, which Frie could understand. After all, she barely knew the Buizel, and she knew that they probably didn't trust every human or Morph they met upon first introduction. She seemed like the first trainer they'd met, on that note, so it was even more understandable. She smiled, not allowing herself to get offended at all, because it wasn't as if they weren't telling her to be mean or cruel. The Slowpoke Morph yawned lightly, curling her tail around herself and continuing to observe as the brother swam over to Blue, obviously telling her off slightly.

When Blue dove under the water, only to resurface near her foot, Frie craned her neck downwards to continue watching the orange Water-type, humming softly to herself. She couldn't help but chuckle as the Buizel deemed her interesting. She wasn't terribly interesting, she didn't think, especially when compared to all the people who actually had motivations to /do/ something. She was rather lazy, even if she did have a good goal and plan in mind, and that made her less than interesting in her opinion.

The girl nodded as Blue swam back to her brother. Her hearing wasn't the most keen, but she managed to pick up what the Water-types were saying, basically. It sounded as if Blue had gotten them lost. Frie frowned slightly, because she knew that she'd be terribly upset if she'd lost her way and gotten separated from her home. The Slowpoke Morph couldn't help but wonder if she could help, provided the Buizel asked her for help.

She was distracted from her thoughts as Blue came back to her asking her whether she knew this place, what a Morph was, and what exactly she was doing on her journey. The girl paused for a few moments, wondering how best to answer all that, before she began with the easiest and most obvious question.

"Well... I'm sorry, but I don't, really. This is my first time being in this area, honestly. And, yes, a Pokemorph, or simply a Morph, is a human with Pok?mon features. Some of us merely look a bit like the Pok?mon, while others can change into it... I'm a bit of both, actually. I can change into a Slowpoke if I really want to for some reason. It's quite nice to nap in that form, actually...

As for why I'm here... It's complicated. I'm a trainer, it's true, and I intend to go through the Gyms... but only because I need to become stronger to fulfill my goals. I want to go back to my home land one day, and then to the rest of the world, and convince everyone that humans, Pokemorphs, and Pok?mon can all live together without hating each other. It'll be hard, and that's why I'm trying to get as many friends and partners as possible first."

Meer was ignoring Salt as she swam around him, instead focusing boredly on what Frie said. Her reasoning for journeying wasn't one he heard everyday, most people had simply wanted to become famous or powerful or both. Frie certainly was intriguing him, even if he wasn't about to admit that to anyone, least of all Frie. It wasn't worth the effort, really.

[Seas]

Whiskers generally appeared to be the most cautious of the trio, which was true. However, that wasn't saying much given that Blue was the first to ever escape the caverns called 'home' and Salt had once willing fought a Raichu and won. He often just felt as though someone needed to hang back and since he didn't believe he was particularly skilled at anything, despite his sisters' view of him being clever, that one would be him. This gave him many privileges, the most useful being that he could make almost any decisions he liked and be confident his sisters would go along with him.

After running the situation carefully through his mind and noting landmarks, he swam over to where Blue was listening to the trainer, catching the trail end of her words about peace between Pok?mon, humans and pokemorphs. It was interesting, but he didn't really want to worry their parents, as that would cause trouble, and so he didn't have time for it.

"Excuse me," Whiskers interjected before Blue could ask more questions, knowing very well that Blue never ran out of questions, "Could you help us find our way home? Your Lapras could carry you through the water. We would need to ride as well through the Carvanha territory, but only then."

Whiskers saw Blue swallow and look afraid and felt sympathetic for her. She was curious about everything, but being curious about Carvanha had gotten her tail bitten when she was young. If their mother hadn't fought it off, Blue would've been dead. The vicious fish Pokémon didn't frighten Whiskers and they certainly didn't frighten Salt, but Blue wasn't curious about them which translated from Blue language meant 'I'm terrified of them'. Salt could probably protect them, Whiskers knew, but he didn't want to test that.

As he was thinking of Salt, she appeared beside them, as graceful as ever.

"Please?" Salt asked in her soft voice, tilting her head and looking up at the trainer.

Whiskers suspected she had no idea what they were asking about, but Salt was always willing to back her siblings up on anything they cared to do.

"It'd be really helpful," Blue added, doing the shrugging slimming thing she did when nervous, "I promise to tell you lots about everything if you do."

Whiskers adored his sisters.